According to reports, new Chinese EV startup NIO is bringing its first production vehicle -- the affordable NIO ES8 all-electric SUV -- to market, and is also courting the owners of Tesla vehicles with a novel mobile charging system built into electric vans.

NIO, like Tesla, apparently plans to build its own service and charging infrastructure for supporting its EV fleet. Towards that end, the company plans to give its customers the advantage of mobile charging stations through electric vans.

Although the mobile charging stations have specifically been designed for the NIO ES8 all-electric SUV, the company will also be making these charging stations available to Tesla owners. NIO’s mobile charging station is built into an electric van which can be reached to customers for charging their EVs.

The electric van into which NIO has built its mobile charging stations is the MAXUS EV80, equipped with 2 battery packs --- 70 kWh each. The cost of NIO’s mobile charging service is 180RMB (approximately US$25), and it can be performed even in the absence of the owner if the charge port is unlocked remotely.

In a confirmation that NIO’s novel mobile charging system can also be used by Tesla owners, the mobile charging service was recently demonstrated by user JayinShanghai on Reddit with his Tesla Model S. Jay has revealed that the mobile charging station added nearly 100 km of range to his Model S in around 10 minutes.

With US electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors having stabilized the monthly deliveries of its vehicles after recent issues, the sales of the company’s electric vehicles (EVs) in Norway have increased almost two-fold as compared to the 2017 figures.